Identificación molecular de hongos potencialmente micorrízicos, aislados de tres especies de orquídeas nativas del cantón Gualaceo

Abstract

Ecuador is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, thanks to its location, geology, topography, climate, and multiple biological factors. Among its great diversity of flora, orchids stand out, which are commercially valued due to their great beauty, making them vulnerable to illegal trafficking. In addition, there is scientific interest in the relationship between orchids and their fungal hosts, which allows their seeds to germinate. Mycorrhizal fungi provide the embryos with important macronutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen that they extract from the ground; while fungi benefit from organic carbon in the form of sugars produced in photosynthesis. Thus, it is essential to understand the symbiotic relationship between orchids and fungi. In the presents work, ten fungal strains isolated from three native orchid species from the Gualaceo canton were molecularly identified, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) molecular technique was applied to amplify part of the ribosomal DNA using the ITS and NL primers, in order to identify mycorrhizal fungi isolated from orchid roots. These PCR products were sequenced and the sequence obtained was compared with the NCBI GenBank database to identify the species of fungi analyzed. A strain of mycorrhizal fungus belonging to Ceratobasidium sp. was identified that can be used in subsequent symbiotic germination assays.